Apologies for formatting and grammar but some interesting info in this stream. I'm sure we'll be getting more and more interesting tid bits as we approach March 20th.
42:00 – Jon asks what everyone is working on.
42:40 – Shelly is working on Merchant Alliance, comments that MA isn’t that profitable. Working on making cargo a lot more tempting, cargo value is doubled, distance is shorter, difficulty of handling crates has been made easier. Animals will see a rise in about 50% profitability.
44:13 – Joe is working on tweeting photos of dogs, had a good dog photo tweet the other day. Pets animation is looking great. “Doing a little jig when you do a little jig” Joe said as Shelly chimes “Sssspoilers”. (Seems like pets will mimic your emotes)
E3 – Planning on what to do then beyond the Mega Update. [[[[[E3 Confirmed! lul]]]]]
Joe’s only pre-requisite for pets was to be able to fire them out of cannons. “The only debate we’ve had a little bit internally, is like, should being hit by a pet fired out of a cannon do any damage, whats so ever? Because, cause is it technically paid to win if you get killed by, like, a flying parrot”. Shelly - “I think we landed on like 1 damage so that your screen flashes red”. Joe – “and the chance if you were on that slither of health and actually got killed by someone’s pet it would be amazing. You would happily like that, paid to laugh.”
Q: Charity Microtransactions for special cosmetics is something along Rare team’s values. Wouldn’t rule it out, but would have to figure out the logistics behind it.
1:17:00 – Q: Will there ever be a detailed statistic available to view? Joe is not a fan of Kill ratios or counters since they tend to drive game play chasing stats. Joe also doesn’t know if they are even tracking those details.
1:20:00 – Q: Are all of the developers working on the Mega Update or a dev team working on something beyond? Joe – Everyone is working on the Mega Update right now currently. MEGA KEG UPDATE! Joe wanted to call it “The Loot Box” in terms of the update name, but no one would let him. “Pieces of Great” was Joe’s Shrouded Spoils name recommendation.
There are a few teams working on new player boarding experience, QoL, Mercenary Voyages as well. Nearly all the team is working on the Mega Update.
Joe wants them to do a better job at the little events between the bigger updates continuing to engage players during the wait time.
Arena is in Pioneers as of last week. Early testing and feedback. New quest stuff is going out to pioneers. They also have plans soon to have pioneers to become opt-in.
Lots of inside information about the details of the new additions from the Mega Update will arrive between March 20th Trailer Release and the actual date of the release.
1:28:00 – Q: Have all the secrets in the world been found already? Joe – With every update we sneak things into the world, especially now that we’re heading into the Mega Update, like this big puzzling gap in the front of the ship. Joe “This gap really DRAWS me over for some reason smirking at his word choice” (1:29:48)
1:30:00 – We’ve seen some underwater cavern being built up. Joe “What could that be hmm”
1:41:29 – Q: Will we ever have the ability to change ship type at the shipwright within the game without losing progress? Joe – “I think it’s something we want to do eventually but it’s actually more involved piece of work then it seems initially.” They have other things they are working on like the Mega Update they are concentrating on, but it’s a more involved project to get it done.
1:44:00 – We’ve been working on the Devil’s Roar Skelly Fort. Hoping to get that out to players soon. You get mostly ashen loot.
1:45:00 – Is there plans to introduce a new large creature like Meg/Kraken/Skelly Ship. Shelly – Not at the moment, but wouldn’t rule it out in the future. Joe – And there’s a little more focus on some land things at the moment as well, aren’t there, little things to spice up the island life, yaaaaaaa.” Shelly “Yaaa, cooking up some great stuff” (1:46:29)
1:53:00 – Super heated water glitch not being able to access barrels and the like? We’re are working on it and or will look into it to make sure we are.